Schultz first noted that FedEx CEO Fred Smith shared some research with him confirming the significant drop in store traffic globally amid the 'Amazon Effect" across industries -- before he really turned up the retail bear rhetoric.

"There's no doubt that over the next five years or so, we are going to see a dramatic level of retailers not be able to sustain their level of core business as a traditional bricks-and-mortar retailer, and their omni-channel approach is not going to be sustainable to maintain their cost of their infrastructure."

So where does that leave Starbucks? Schultz thinks a shrunken retail landscape leaves Starbucks as a place where people will want to gather for human contact.

"We are going to be in a very unique position five years, 10 years down the road because there's going to be a lot less people competing for those customers. I'm not talking about the coffee category; I'm talking overall."

Cowen analyst John Kernan has some tough words for retail executives after hearing a litany of excuses on earnings conference calls about the "challenging" environment.

"Every metric related to the consumer is healthier now than it was the past couple years," says Kernan. "The consumer is in a very good position right now," he adds.

Low gas prices, low unemployment rates and some wage gains have set the table for growth, but a decline in consumer confidence (political anxiety?) has sent even more shoppers to online channels or kept them in a stay-at-home mindset (see restaurant sector woes).

A question left unanswered is if the shift is transitory in nature or permanent An even bigger uncertainty is what happens to brick-and-mortar retailers if the U.S. economy were to enter a recession?

The NPD Group forecasts holiday spending will increase 3.6% to $636 per consumer.

"The unvarying holiday spending intentions expressed by consumers are a sign that even this year’s intense election cycle has done little to dampen consumer confidence going into the holiday season, which we forecast to grow moderately," notes NPD analyst Marshal Cohen.

There has been some level of expectation that many retailers are going to point to election anxiety as a reason for their own disappointing earnings.

Consumer spending was flat during August to miss the estimates of analysts for a 0.2% gain.

If inflation is factored in, spending was actually down for the first time since January.

The good news from the Commerce Department data dump was the upward revision in July's tally of consumer spending growth to +0.4%.

"It was a soft month for consumer spending following a strong one, and it’s not anything to get worried about," says Jefferies economist Tom Simmons. That's a difficult task in the many segments of the retail sector that depend on consumer traffic at stores.

Retail sales fell in August on a month-over-month comparison. The drop wasn't a large surprise considering the onslaught of warnings from the retail sector on store traffic.

8 out of the 13 retail categories showed negative growth during the month, with the largest drops recorded in the building material/garden equipment/supplies dealers and miscellaneous store retailers categories. The broad weakness turned on its head the argument that money freed up from a lower level of auto sales would be funneled into other consumer purchases.

Food services and drinking places showed a +0.9% M/M and +5.8% Y/Y increase in a somewhat surprising result considering the harsh read from Black Box Intelligence on August same-store sales in the restaurant sector BITE. Is the discrepancy an indication that independent restaurants are taking market share?

On a year-over-year basis, retail sales were up 1.9%. As expected the Amazon-influenced nonstore retailers category did the heavy lifting with an 11% gain. Larger U.S. retail chains (WMT, SPLS, TGT, BBY, DG, COST, KR, WBA, CVS, LOW, HD, SWY) have been raising the issue of pricing pressure in recent conference presentations and guidance updates which could be a nagging sales deflator for the balance of the year.

Korean Air Lines, the biggest shareholder in Hanjin Shipping (OTC:HNJSF), has delayed a decision on a funding plan for the troubled company for a second time, adding to the uncertainty of around $14B of cargo stranded at sea.

With Hanjin's future in doubt, carriers have announced they will hike container freight rates by as much as 50% beginning next month as retailers scramble to secure shipping ahead of the peak year-end holiday season.

"While the situation is still developing, the prospect of harm is significant and apparent,” writes the Retail Industry Leaders Association to the Department of Commerce and the Federal Maritime Commission in wake of the bankruptcy filing of South Korea's Hanjin Shipping.

Hanjin handles nearly 8% of trans-Pacific trade volume, and terminal operators, ports, cargo handlers, truckers, and others are refusing to handle its cargo over fear they won't get paid.

The resulting chaos in the shipping industry - U.S.-bound cargo isn't leaving port, cargo-filled Hanjin ships can't get into U.S. ports, already delivered cargo sits un-handled - comes as U.S. retailers are about to begin stocking up for the holiday season.

Those most exposed include Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT), Target (NYSE:TGT), and J.C. Penney (NYSE:JCP). Home Depot (NYSE:HD) says Hanjin isn't its only carrier, so it's not expecting a material impact.

Retail sales came in flat for July with weakness in grocery stores, restaurants, and department stores standing out. The U.S. economy had produced three straight months of positive retail sales growth before the disappointment in July.

Once again, the nonstore retailers category (primarily e-commerce) led growth with a 1.3% M/M and 14.1% Y/Y gain in July. Sales at health and personal care stores were also solid with a 7.8% Y/Y rise.

Retail sales in June were revised to +0.9% from +0.7% in a positive development for the sector.

The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index was a yawner this week, edging up 10 bps to a reading of 43.0. However, within the report a deep divide in the U.S. was tipped.

"The index among Republicans has fallen to a nearly two-year low, 35.0, after a steep 12.0-point decline the last two months. In contrast, the CCI held basically steady this week at 50.8 among Democrats, and among independents it’s at a seven-month high, 44.7."

Consumer anxiety over politics was cited in dozens of Q2 conference calls by top execs.

The pessimistic view of Republicans in comparison to Democrats isn't a shocker, although it leads to the question on if consumer sentiment and consumer spending in the U.S. will improve after November 8 if Donald Trump wins the election?